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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Over the weekend I photographed a wedding (I am not a professional photographer, but was asked as a friend of the family--brave woman!) I thought you might enjoy a peak at her decorations:

If you would like to see more pictures from the wedding/reception go here. (Though I haven't posted them all yet--more to come it the next couple days--on that blog.)

She was going for a garden theme, without risking the rain by having it in an actual garden. Smart woman (though we did have some blue skies that morning!). The little packages in the picture 3 down, far left, were flower bulbs. Next to that (same picture) they had a photo book made with their engagement pictures for guests to sign. I hope you enjoyed the peak!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Despite our focus on furniture/decor and interior decorating, our paper garlands are pretty popular. This sort of surprised me. We first made a simple scalloped, three-dimensional garland at Christmas time to use as garland with your vintage inspired Christmas decorations, but after Christmas we got requests to make more. Recently, our butterfly garland hit the front page of Etsy and we got several orders in a handful of minutes. One woman, who was ordering the garland for her twins' playroom inquired if we had anything boyish (as one of the twins was a boy). Nope. We didn't. So I went in search of a more "boyish" shape to string into a festive garland.

Apparently spring is still speaking to me, despite it's refusal to actually arrive around here. Nothing says spring is on its way around my house like the croaking chorus of frogs that hatch behind my house in the a forest pond early every spring. This year they were busting out the music in the beginning of February! This is what I hear every night from my back patio. . .

And while I would certainly love to get back to painting furniture and decorating things, it would help if spring actually showed its face around here. It's nothing but cool weather and pouring rain as far the eye can see.

Which makes refinishing furniture and painting projects less than comfortable. . . because I do those things in my garage. My cold, unheated garage. But I have plans--big plans! Hopefully in the next month or so, my dad is going to come visit and help us build a shop/garden shed--with heat!--to make this job a little more of a year round thing.

In the meantime, I need to get to work finishing Signe's room makeover and wrapping up some things headed for the shop & etsy.

Do you shop on Etsy? If so, what kinds of things do you find yourself searching for and buying? Here are a few of my favorite shops:

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Many of you have asked about paint colors for rooms in my house. This is my attempt to answer those questions. It may not be exact (I am using a Sherwin Williams fan deck to find matches) but hopefully this will be helpful.

For those of you living in the Northwest, I buy my paint at Miller Paint, so when I have a Miller paint color name I will list it (though for many of the colors I used paint chips from other stores that I had them mix up--which, of course, I mostly no longer have!). From here on out I will use Sherwin Williams Paint chips, but will continue to use Miller Paint. That way, you can at least locate the paint chip and get similar results, should you choose to use it in your home. Also, I am adding the paint color squares from the Sherwin Williams website, but I am not sure how helpful that will be, because they don't look the same on my screen as on the actual chip--your screen may also vary. Where I have listed two very close colors, they appear much closer in person than on these swatches (though it is a clear representation of how much variation I get in different areas of my home with the same paint merely due to lighting variation!), but here they are for what it's worth!

Laundry Room, Powder Bath, Master Bedroom/Bathroom. Sort of gray, sort of blue--all lovely! And yes, these two pictures are of the same paint color! The laundry room did have a florescent light in it at the time, which, I think, makes everything bluer. Just an example of how lighting changes colors.

Hannah's Room (before it became the guest room--actually it's not the guest room yet. It is still acting as my sewing room. But it is on its way to becoming the guest room.) And these appear more turquoise in person--with "Glimmer" being slightly more green.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Speaking of mantels. . . Remember my Christmas Mantel? It is currently being featured on Better Homes and Gardens in a slideshow along with 18 other great mantels. It may be Spring, but I am thrilled none-the-less.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Despite the constant downpour, the strewn branches and uprooted trees around here, it is actually starting to look like spring. My daffodils and hyacinths are sprouting up, and the flowering plums are turning pinker by the day. But the rain tends to drown out my sunny, spring spirit. . . so I had to bring a little sunshine indoors.

I thought I would start with my mantel and family room.

I picked up some herbs at the store yesterday along with some glass candlesticks and baskets, and a large bunch of lilies--all light and airy, like spring should be.

To add a touch of green, hints that things are starting to grow out there, I brought out my green throw pillow and green wool throw blanket.

And despite my husband's complaints that I have too many magazines, I like having them close at hand for the rare moment when I have time to sit and flip through their pages for inspiration--so I filled a basket with back issues of Country Living, and Better Homes and Gardens magazines (among others), a smaller basket with some vintage books, and (in case one is not in the mood to read) an even smaller basket with the remotes.

The lilies work double magic--they look springy, AND they smell like spring also.

On the mantel I layered my paper wreath over the mirrors (again--LOVE that wreath), potted the herbs and stacked them with the candlesticks, and threw in some ironstone for added white (and my chippy little dove too). Then, because the middle felt kind of bare, I added a couple empty frames. . .

Come to think of it, it feels a lot like last year's spring mantel:

This Year Last Year

The biggest difference is the lack of furniture last year (that and the load of sunshine streaming in the window of last year's picture--wish I could have brought some sunshine home in my shopping cart!). We had a springer puppy at the time and our rug and anything small and "chewable" was taken out of the room.

Similarities aside, it made my whole room feel more airy and light, and THAT is just what I needed.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Though some people may argue that white is not a color, I argue that not only is it a really GREAT color, it makes a very powerful statement. Before we opened our etsy store I had not heard of treasuries. Almost immediately after setting up shop our items began being featured in treasuries. The best treasuries make a beautiful collective statement. But I always get a thrill when we are featured in an all white treasury. This kind of treasury is speaking my language!

I had to share this treasury because I figured if I could stare at it all day, you might like to also. For those of you with etsy stores, do you use treasuries often? I have only made one, but when I see our things featured in such lovely collections it makes me want to rush out and make one. . . or maybe go out and buy myself a birthday present! (This curator has created a couple other treasuries worth checking out also.)

Speaking of our etsy store and birthdays (since mine was yesterday), we are having a sale Now through Sunday in our etsy store. Take 10% off your purchase with the coupon code: Spring. And if you see something that has already been sold that you would like to purchase, send us a message--we may be able to re-create it and include it in the sale.

Happy Birthday to me and happy shopping to you!

***If you are local, Camas Antiques is throwing its own birthday celebration this weekend to celebrate 7 years in business. Our items will be 10% off there as well. Friday and Saturday cake will be served and the first 50 customers each day will receive a gift, courtesy of Camas Antiques. ***

Monday, March 7, 2011

Today I awoke with a dilemma on my hands. . . which unfinished project to work on. I bounced from Signe's room, to the laundry room, to the living room, to the guest room and back again, but every project in progress needed supplies--and I didn't want to run to the fabric store or the hardware store, I just wanted to get to work on something. I finally settled on painting trim in the kitchen/family room. Mostly because my husband suggested it might be time. . . since we put that trim up nearly two years ago! But once I got all dressed in painting clothes I changed my mind. I wanted something with a good before and after picture, and while I could post pictures of the kitchen remodel, I didn't want to post after pictures until it was actually all done AND decorated. Which left one other thing I could work on. Something I bought supplies for 1 year and 4 months ago. Clearly I need to work on completing the projects I start. It is one of my resolutions for the year actually--Finish all half done projects! I am very good at the starting part.

A year ago last November I decided I was tired of the black upholstered dining chairs in my kitchen. So I went out and bought these fabrics (which I also planned to use for accents in my family room):

I picked them to match my Turquoise Fire King dishes:

And this rug (Jordan, Porcelain Blue, in 9X12) I bought at Pottery Barn:

Then I promptly sewed a slipcover for ONE of my EIGHT chairs. And though I loved how it turned out, I never finished the other seven. A year goes by, our family adopts a springer spaniel, said springer chews up the legs to my dining chairs (among other things), and the chairs get replaced without ever being recovered.

But the good news is, the new chairs needed slipcovers. I bought the new table (Provence) and chairs (Anna Slipcover Chair) at World Market a few months ago, but they were out of the slipcovers I liked. Luckily I still had yards and yards of Robins Egg Blue Linen (Waverly). So today I set out to make all six covers in one shot. Otherwise I feared history would repeat itself. And I almost made it. Now I have six chairs that look like this:

Maybe tomorrow I will finish the box pleat skirts for the bottoms of them, and give them all a good ironing. . . or maybe a year from now. Let's shoot for tomorrow!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Have you ever noticed how many things can be done with an old frame? A lot. Over the years I have framed artwork, framed other objects with an empty frame, created three dimensional artwork within a frame, put mirrors in frames, framed fabric, stacked empty frames on my mantel, made chalkboards, made magnetic message boards (made magnetic chalkboards!), and actually put pictures in frames--a lot of pictures.

But I have come up with a few more ideas of things to put in frames. . . and by come up with, I mean I saw the idea somewhere and put my spin on it (though a few I thought I had imagined up I have since seen elsewhere)! This frame idea I actually saw at a wedding. The frame was displayed with note cards for guests to write congratulatory notes and words of advice that they then clipped onto the chicken wire.

I happened to have a frame just lying around, waiting for me to do something with it (a few frames actually). I chose this one because I liked the size and I liked the contrast of the more ornate, silvery blue frame with the bare chicken wire.

And because spring and the revamping of my yard and garden have been on my mind of late (I would will it be spring already if I could), I decked this message board out with fun botanical prints and a few sprigs of dried thyme. I hung them with the tiniest clothes pin clips.

When spring finally makes an appearance around here I will definitely by ready.

I have another frame of similar size and style in the works, and two other ideas for fun message boards I will be working on as soon as I pick up a few supplies.